I am very sorry for the delay on this chapter. I had originally planned to post this before the end of last year, but as I was missing the deadline my motivation kinda dropped into the ground... so I hope you enjoy this chapter. It got a bit longer than i originally anticipated...
"... the handcuffs are a rather recent development in the whole hero business. They suppress most power quirks the moment the wrist rings snap together, however, Darlings, remember that people with mutation quirks are largely unaffected! Still, they are quite sturdy, so there should be no problem with putting them onto a villain, even if they got a cute squirrel tail!"
Ms. Midnight explained, with a smile, using her riding crop to point at the picture of the anti-quirk handcuffs on the whiteboard, holding her notes in the other. Coming to the end of her explanation she looked into the class, before asking:
"So who of you can summarise how the handcuffs work?"
Immediately hands shot up into the air to answer the question, mostly the usual suspects, but notably Mineta's too, probably to score himself some sort of attention by the beautiful teacher. Unfortunately for him, the question still went to Iida, who instantly shot up from his chair.
"The handcuffs were introduced about 10 years ago by the Shiamoto Security Corporation. They emit electromagnetic waves through the wrist rings and activate when they are locked in place. They only work on activated quirks only but are still sufficiently practical as useful as normal handcuffs!"
"Good boy, sit!" Midnight answered, a small wink downwards with her crop accentuating what she was saying.
Putting her down her notes onto the table she continued on: "So much for theory! I want you to get into your gym clothes and I see you down at field B for some practice."
She let the tip of her crop smack against the flat of her hands, the sound being the sign for the students to scramble to their feet and quickly do as they were told!
Ten minutes later, the class had assembled down on the training field, standing in a neat half circle around their teacher, who had rolled out a small cart with a few pairs of anti-quirk handcuffs.
"Ok, split into groups of two, we are going to practice putting the handcuffs on! Those, who don't have a mutation quirk, feel free to try and use your powers regardless! It's good to see how that kind of thing feels!" Midnight explained, as she looked over their students. "No need to fight just yet, we are just getting familiar with these."
Honestly, Izuku couldn't really take his eyes off them. There were many questions he had in his head. Sure, he had paid attention in class, everybody reacted differently to it and some quirks were even totally unaffected, most of which were those that changed your body, but how would it work with him? Did it affect One for All? After all it was something that was put on him later. How was it with those quirks that had the effect on the mind of the user... So many questions...
"Midoriya, I would appreciate it if you could focus on training instead of mumbling to yourself."
With that Iida was bringing his training partner back from the long winded corridors of his own mind. It was almost embarrassing, Izuku laughing awkwardly as he lowered his hand from his mouth, folding them apologetically in front of him.
"Sorry about that! So who is going to start with putting them on?" he asked carefully, being mindful to not get distracted by his own inner monologue again.
It was basically a coin toss, before they decided that Izuku should be the first, picking up the handcuffs from the cart. They were definitely a bit heavier than he anticipated. He could imagine that somebody could use them as light dumbbells for starting out, before he turned them around in his hands.
There were some helpful buttons on the thing, towards the center, allowing it to spread further apart or tighter together. Also some sliders to make the cuff parts bigger or smaller as well as an auto adjust button. Really a neat tool!"
Practice itself was somewhat unsurprising while using it in Iida. Putting him in handcuffs was fun enough, the self-adjust function being particularly useful in making sure you were closing the cuffs quickly around anybody's wrist, even if they were as thick as Iida's. Unsurprisingly, it was pretty much impossible for his friend to rev up the engines on his legs.
For a moment, Izuku saw Iida's eyes gloss over as he was trying really hard to get everything moving before he soberly noted: "As expected, no matter how hard you try, it is not possible to activate your quirk. What an impressive piece of technology."
Izuku couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the way his friend was phrasing that, before he was undoing the handcuffs and handing them to him. With that, Deku held out his hands, waiting for Iida to get the settings right, as he let him try around and experiment as well. After all, they wanted to become more familiar with that tool.
"Alright" the runner muttered as he laid the cuffs over Izuku's wrist. Checking if everything was right he then quickly snapped them shut over his wrist.
The effects were pretty immediate. Deku could feel a slight warmth creep over his wrist that definitely felt irritating at first. The feeling quickly crept over his whole body, getting worse and worse bit by bit until finally coming to an halt at his stomach. Slightly nauseous. As if he had lain in bed and jumped too fast?ENot bothersome but definitely uncomfortable.
"Ok now for trying to..." The moment he started pulling from his quirk it was like he had been gut punched. Nausea rose up his chest, he felt like he was about to throw up. The stronger he fought the feeling, the harder he tried to activate his quirk the worse it got. Then it got stuck in his throat, giving him absolutely no relief, his belly feeling like it was about to convulse but it just couldn't build up the strength to push him over the edge and fire out that thing that made him sick.
After a few more seconds of trying, he just gave up, sweat rolling down his forehead as the more he pulled back, the better he started feeling again. Looking up Iida, he gave him a slight nod before his cuffs were once again unlocked and this uncomfortable warmth disappeared.
"That was certainly... an experience..." Deku announced. Iida just nodded in agreement. There was little more to say to that. Still feeling the remnants of that uncomfortable feeling in his gut, he looked around. It was clear, some were definitely taken to this better than others. Somewhere having the same glazed gaze that he had seen on Iida's face. Others were just doing quite fine. Minetta was looking both amused and frustrated that the cuffs had difficulties becoming small enough for his thin arms. Overall, a mixed bag of reactions."
"Ok boys and girls! Now that everybody got their taste with the cuffs, we are going to do the next step. One of you will play the villain, the other one playing the hero and you will try and put handcuffs on each other. First without quirks, then with them! But no holding back, I want to see you trying!"
Midnight announced the moment she felt like they had enough time to really experiment around. Izuku would have preferred if she had given them a bit more time, because a threatening aura started to build up behind him, starting to loom over him, bit by bit, drawing closer.
"As you are holding the handcuffs right now, Midoriya, let's make this quick. I will play the villain at first!" Iida announced in his usual bombastic fashion. Izuku himself only turned slowly to face him, a clot building up in his throat as he felt his friend getting into his villain persona for these kinds of exercises. "Oh boy" Izu whispered under his breath as he got himself ready for this...
"I am very sorry, Midoriya! I did not mean to go that far" At a perfect angle Iida was bowing before the couch, in the same strict and proper manner that one was used to from him by now. On said couch laid a very distraught Izuku, two cooling bags on his shoulders after the training. Definitely not the worst injury he had endured over the last year or so, but it still hurt.
Regardless, with an awkward smile he was just waving his hand. "It's fine. I know you had the best intentions." Midoriya said with a forgiving smile as he felt the cool sooth his overexerted joints. Having Iida as partner in a Hero/Villain training usually bore the risk of going just a tad bit too far.
Ochaco could only sympathetically smile at the two, knowing all too well, that if it didn't hit Izuku she would be the one that would lie on that very couch now, complaining about her aching shoulders. One day, Iida would learn not to give 110% all the time. Today was not that day.
"At least we got a free schedule this afternoon. Any plans you guys had?" she asked her friends, switching away from the topic of having a pair of aching shoulders.
Both boys didn't even get time to think about their response. Leaning over the back of the couch Denki inserted himself into the conversation:
"The gang and me are looking at the new arcade near the mall today. If you wanna you can tag along."
The Deku squad exchanged a few glances between each other before they just shrugged (a little ouch from Deku for that) before they agreed to come along. It sounded like a fun time at least.
With that decided they started packing up for the little trip, Izuku letting Iida do him the favor of grabbing his stuff while he was enjoying the last few minutes with the cooling bags soothing his pain before they got ready to go.
In the next few minutes all were lined up at the bos stop of the campus. Denki, Mina, Bakugo, Sero, Jiru, Eijiro, Izuku, Ochaco... and with that IIda was done counting the number of participants. Maybe some of them started regretting bringing their class rep along. Either way, they were on the bus sooner rather than later?On the way to the arcade!
"It's been a while since I've been at an arcade. Used to have one nearby where I lived when I was in middle school still" Sero started recounting. "It closed though, shortly before I graduated. Was a shame, really."
"We also had one nearby our school. But I really only went there with Kacchan when we were little." Deku chimed in from behind Sero fs seat, somewhat timidly while he fondly remembered those few early birthday parties, when he was still invited, that ended before rows of gaming cabinets.
"Deku is the worst person to invite to the arcade," Bakugo boomed from the back row of the bus. gFirst, he will do absolutely nothing all day and cling to you like a leech until he finds one machine and then hogs that machine for the rest of the day! And even when you go home, he will still only talk about nothing else but that one damn game!?EClearly, he was remembering those times just as vividly as Izuku.
There were some giggles, most of them somewhat awkward over how tense the relationship between the two still was. Some were just giggling because of how?Ewell, Deku it was. It was not difficult to imagine that Izuku out of all people would sink himself way too deep into one game.
But the bus went on and as the chatter moved away from the past, they arrived at the mall and moved to the arcade as a closed group. Deku trailed at the back with Iida. Iida of course looking out so nobody was left behind.
Izuku, on the other hand, felt more like keeping a bit on the downlow. Sure, it wasn't really embarrassing what Kacchan revealed about him. Heck, even the fact that some laughed actually didn't hurt really. After all, he could tell there were no ill intentions. It was more the uncomfortable realization that he had done something like that without ever having really realized that. One might even call it guilt but from a time long gone" It was difficult to explain.
Either way, they ended up at the entrance of the arcade, everybody lining up nicely to charge up their point cards (Iida was pleased with how orderly everything was going) before they arranged the rest of their little adventure:
Everybody was allowed to go where they pleased. Should any issues arise, they would send it into the group chat. At 6 PM they would meet back up right there at the counter, where they were currently talking in front of.
And with that the group dispersed into the long halls of the arcade, disappearing into the land of games and gimmicks, each into their small, little groups. That left behind Iida, Ochaco and Izuku.
"Well, I guess we get going too?" Uraraka suggested as she started to lead the two boys into the dim hall of the arcade. Discussions started pretty immediately, which games she should decide on.
"... I didn't buy as many points. I wanna make them count!" She explained with her face in concentrated furrows as she stood in front of a "Dance Dance Revolution" machine, looking at the two foot pads... It was really fun she knew that. But playing alone? No way, and asking either of those two... no, that might come across as weird.
"You know, you could have asked, if you wanted to loan. We are out to have fun and you do not need to hold back."Izuku offered with his ever kind smile on his face. Really, it would not be a big deal and he already knew what her response would be?Ebut it felt wrong not to mention it at least.
"Ah, no, no worries. It would feel wrong to borrow money for something so trivial." she shot the offer down with a handwave, a somewhat awkward smile on her face. This felt a bit played in at this point, a small ritual they practiced each time they went out somewhere. It was one of these strange ticks of wanting to help and somebody who doesn't want to be helped.
"Let's move on or we are going to take root here." Iida said after a moment of contemplation as they continued through the narrow hallways, flanked by potentially interesting games on either side. Talking was becoming increasingly difficult, though. The space between the arcade machines was rather narrow and only could comfortably fit two people walking next to each other.
And then there was the fact that walls were swallowing a lot of sound. If you were not right next to each other it was really hard to understand what the other person was saying. So all things considered, this was perfect for a pair of two to enjoy their day at the arcade, undisturbed by the many people that were around them... strangely intimate.
However, right now, it made Izuku feely strangely isolated. As it was right now, Iida and Ochaco were the pair walking next to each other. In part, because Iida was more prone to talk, in other part, because after what he heard on the bus, Izuku tried his hardest to not repeat the sins of the past... and somehow that meant that when they were walking he ended up trailing behind his two friends.
It was somewhat ironic. Over the last few months, he had definitely started gaining a lot more confidence and he felt more and more at home with his friends. Still, old habits seem to die hard. Especially when you brought up the past. His mind wandered back a little, knowing he was a bit too stuck in his own mind... yet he hardly could help himself. Before he even realized it really he had fallen behind a few steps behind his friends, who were seemingly debating something very intensely.
He stepped forward, about to call out to the two, when suddenly a hand started to run around his face, pushing onto his mouth. He could hardly even react, think before something round and hard was pressing into his back. it didn't need much to figure out what was pressing into his back. Instantly, Izuku raised his hands, showing that he was unharmed while he could feel the barrel of the gun rub against his spine.
"It's so good to see you, Izu~~~" a sweet, excited voice purred right into his ear from behind. A voice he knew... especially in situations like that...
"Himiko Toga?" he muttered carefully into her hand, just earning himself a giggle while she gently lowered her hand from his mouth down to his throat. "Say that again, please~" she cooed
Feeling sweat running down his skin, he took a deep breath. Might as well humor her... it worked before.
"Himiko To-'' he started before he heard a quiet squee coming from the girl standing behind him, feeling her breath against his neck as she leaned a bit closer, feeling the edge of the gun press a bit harder into him. "Uhuhuhu~, i like it when you say my name."
Just as she was saying that, something went through his head. This was Himiko Toga. He had never seen her use a gun. And it was not just one instance of meeting her. She always used a knife, didn't she? She used one last time too...
Carefully Izuku strained his eyes to look as much to the side as he possibly could... From the corner of his vision he could see a cabinet for a rail shooter. Maybe it was a bit of a gamble, but if he would look down, he was pretty sure that one of the toy guns they use for controls would be missing... and the cable they were attached to would lead right to the girl behind him.
He took a deep breath, his hands shaking from all the adrenalin basically boiling in his blood. It was a bit of a gamble but what he was about to do. "I am going to move..." he announced.
Slowly he moved his hands, reaching to his throat, where he could still feel her fingers curled around his neck, not enough to hurt, for now, but definitely made him think twice about moving fast. Gently, slowly, he laid his hand over hers. He exhaled, realizing he had held his breath up until now, before deciding to push forward the moment he noticed no resistance coming from the girl behind him.
"I am going to turn around." he added after a moment. Leading her hand away from his neck he started diving under his own arm as he kept holding onto her hand as he turned bit by bit until he finally faced her. Golden eyes stared at him, her smile becoming wider and wider... somehow he got the feeling she was expecting something. For a moment, he was lost, just staring back at her as the only thing going through his head was the relief of seeing that she was indeed just holding a toy gun.
A moment passed and Toga just seemed content with looking at him, letting all that just had happened sink in, before suddenly purred out: "I also like it when Izu's holding my hand~"
Like a hammer, that strange realization hit Izuku right in the gut, his eyes widening, his heart skipping a beat. The strange realization that he was holding hands with her came some out of nowhere that it threw him for a loop. He already could feel blood rushing up into his head, his cheeks start glowing bright red, while he tried to let go of her hand, but it did not seem like Toga was going to give him that luxury. With a wide smile on her face she held tight onto him, humming happily as she scooted just a little bit closer.
"What are you doing here?" Izuku kind of blurted out of nowhere, his eyes frantically checking between her face and their hands. Just when he thought he was sweating before... Honestly, you would think that knowing that you are not in immediate danger would calm you down, but if anything his heartbeat was just increasing with every passing moment.
"Oh Izu~" she really liked saying his name, it seemed. "I could ask you the same thing."
Somehow, that was quite the surprising answer. He had no idea why, but the thought that a villain would go somewhere for amusement and fun... it did not occur to him before.
"S-so..." he tried to continue, but honestly he had nothing. What was he supposed to say now? He still stood there with her pretty close to him, his fingers still intertwined with hers. He was not sure if he had suddenly dropped out of all nervousness or if his anxiety had transcended to the point, where he was just looking at her with his mouth agape, wrestling for words.
Then the thought occurred to him that somebody could see them like that together. Would they know? What if his friends were seeing him like this? They WOULD know that he was sure now. How could he explain to him what happened. Could he explain it? Sure, this was very much a similar situation to that he was in just before the training camp but... really that was not it.
He probably had been silent for a little bit too long, because she was tilting her head, clearly trying to get in his head somehow. There was at least the distinct feeling that she was looking right through him right now. But he couldn't do the same. He stared in her golden eyes and just... he couldn't quite understand what was going on behind them. If anything, there was just the distinct feeling that he was not actually in danger right now, that holding a toy gun to his back was just her sense of humor...
But apparently, Toga had had it with just waiting around. With a hum she turned slightly towards the booth, tugging on his hand until he came closer to her once more, still feeling the anxiety but at this point he was just complicit.
"So... since introductions are out of the way. Have you ever played this game?" She asked, as she twirled the toy gun in her hands, standing just a tiny bit behind him to lean a bit closer to him.
It took him a bit of looking. But honestly, it didn't take a genius to figure out what this game was about even if he hadn't heard of it before. A rail shooter, for one or two players, since there were two controllers. From the look of the banner, he could guess something along the lines of a military shooter, where you would play as some action star. Not usually the kind of game he would go for.
"Can't say that I have." he admitted. He thought about maybe elaborating on it, but he didn't even get to finish that thought as Toga pushed the controller into his hands, putting her palms around his fingers to make him grab the gun with a big, toothy grin. "Then let's try it out, Izuuu~"
Before he could really say anything she had snuck behind him and laid her arms around him and her chin onto his shoulder. It felt a little bit weird. After all he was a bit taller than her, meaning she had to balance herself on her toes. Well and then there was the fact that she was pushing herself against his back in such an... intimate way. The way she put her weight on him, trusting him to not just suddenly move or step aside.
Somewhere in his head he just came to the conclusion that he felt way more nervous about this than he should be. But it didn't really help that; "I am not really that good at shooter games..." he confessed as she pushed the controller into his hands, closing her fingers around his hands. This was not helping at all!
"They are still fun, right?" Toga asked, more so whispering in his ear instead of saying out loud. Izuku stopped for a moment, thinking. She had a point, he supposed. Trying to reason back was haard, because he got nothing really. Were they fun? He hadn't tried playing anything like this for such a long time that he honestly had no idea, really!
"Not really sure." He finally managed to press out. In response, Toga just raised her hands, wordlessly starting up the game for the both of them. The game loudly announced its title and went to a screen, just the stereotypical image of someplace in an arid desert. In the middle of the screen appeared a crosshair that started following the movements of the controller, right now bobbing in place from Izuku's shaking hands. Well, it seemed like Toga made him figure out if those kinds of games were fun to him!
The first enemies started to appear on screen, his hands jerking in the right direction to press the trigger on the toy gun. Bang! and that soldier keeled over dramatically, earning him a giggle into his ear, by the girl learning so close to him. Before he could even process that giggle, she had moved his hand into position for the next enemy appearing, leaving him to only have to push the trigger once more.
Somehow this was the way their teamwork was going to work out. She moved the gun and Izuku would jerk to shoot. Here and there he earned himself a giggle from her, tickling the back of his ears, especially when there was a particularly gory kill on screen. There was some enjoyment in hearing her laugh like that even if it was maybe not what he would call wholesome. It was just a different kind of carefree, a shred of humanity that he had not experienced to this degree. After all, there was nobody here to fool, like she might have had to last time.
Though, like all good things, this too had to come to an end. As well as they might work together, here and there an enemy appeared faster than they could react and shot them before they could do him the favor. GAME OVER! Well it was certainly fun as long as it lasted. Their points flashed across the screen. The leaderboard asked for the 3 letters to indicate how well they matched up to everyone else.
Before he could even think about it, Toga had already positioned the toy, hammering in IZU into the machine before finally, and quickly, let go of his hands, positively as she was practically vibrating in place. "That was fun! Is there anything you come out here to play?"
Izuku was just in the process of putting back the controller, still thinking on what just happened, as he mindlessly aped: "Anything I want to play?"
He honestly didn't really think about it. Just like everybody else in his group he had come here with no expectation with what this arcade had to offer, so that question left him a bit off balance. The fact that she implied that she was now with him somehow managed to fly completely over his head.
"I got nothing planned, really" he admitted. For a moment she just smiled widely, before reaching once more for his hand, dragging him away without needing to say another word. Walking along the cabinets she would stop here and there, looking around then looking at him, her eyes wide open in excitement. Somehow that reminded him a bit of cats, walking in front of you but stopping ever so often if you were following them despite being just a footstep behind them.
While she was clearly keeping her eyes out for something, something came to Izuku's mind, making him look around attentively as they essentially retraced his steps before she had found him. A few cabinets he had already seen along the way, a rhythm game or two, whose flashy logos had stuck in his mind... Oh!
Toga almost fell backwards as Izuku abruptly stopped in his tracks. Seemed like he had found something. Standing in front of the dancing platform, he chewed on his words a lit bit before asking: "Would you like to try this one out with me?"
A light blush appeared on his face as the realization of what he had just asked went through his head. It kinda had just come out in that moment without any thought, thinking only about that it might be fun... but of course there was more to it. This was what turned this accidental, little uncomfortable meeting into something else entirely.
It was not lost on her either. A flush on her cheeks and that wide grin on her face again; She definitely got the message he had unintentionally and thoughtlessly sent. Her fingers curled a little bit tighter around his hand and with a quick "Yes, of course!" they were already on top of the dancing pads, looking at the shared screen.
"Any song you would like to try?" Izuku asked, gallantly trying to ask for her favorites before his own, whatever those might turn out to be. He was fairly confident in his ability to dance, thinking back to the choreography they had practiced in for the culture festival. Even if that had been a hasty affair back then.
After a little bit of consideration. Toga just shook her head. "Anything that you are okay with, I am too!" Meanwhile, with her hands on the railing, she already was testing the foot pedals a little, hearing the satisfying register sound. Seemed like she was more than eager to start!
Flicking through the list, they settled, or rather he asked about it and she enthusiastically nodded, on a rather generic rock song that he had occasionally heard on the radio. It seemed easy enough.
The song started playing, the screen jumped to a split screen for the both of them as a countdown started flashing in rhythm. Then arrows. Many many arrows! And quite fast too! It seriously caught Izuku off guard at first, not hitting the first few inputs, leaving him to struggle to get back into the rhythm for a few moments before he finally got a hang of it, just in the knick of time before the health bar on top of his screen fell to zero.
Quickly he started to realize why there was a railing behind the platform. Holding onto it, it was a lot easier to quickly move your feet since you didn't have to move all of your weight to step on the buttons. It felt like at times it was otherwise downright impossible to move quickly enough. Leaning back more and more, he was practically sitting on it as he fought to make not too many mistakes.
By the time the song was over, he had started working up a bit of a sweat, feeling his breath deepening a little already. He really didn't expect that this game, and particularly this song, was so intense...
"Oh, that was fun!" Toga announced from the side, standing there with a positively elated expression on her face. Sure, she too had worked up a bit of sweat running down her brow, but she seemed to take to this much quicker than Izuku.
Still left a little bit breathless, Izuku looked over to this excited bundle of energy that Toga currently was and just offered. "Want to try a song on your own?"
He was not sure if that was okay with her. After all, she seemed somewhat insistent before doing things together. But as worried as he might be that she was not going to like it, it seemed like she was quite open to the idea.
Finger against her chin, she scrolled to the different songs. For a moment there was a wordless silence as the different song previews blared from the speakers. It took her a little, hovering over one particular song before she shook her head and moving on.
"What would you like to see me dance to?" she asked after a few more moments of scrolling around aimlessly.
Izuku was taken aback for a moment. That simply sounded so wrong. Somewhat suggestive even. There was a bit of excitement bubbling up inside of him and in equal, maybe bigger, parts shame for even thinking of it in that way.
"Uhm... I... no idea." He more-or-less blurted out before taking a good look at the screen again. There were a bunch of good songs, of course, but it seemed like she had put all the way of the decision onto him, as if it was his enjoyment that mattered. And that made him feel weird all over again.
"How about you try that one?" He sugged rather meekshily as he scrolled to the song in question for her, earning him a grin and a wink as she pressed the button to select the song and stood up straight again, hands going away from the railing and instead straight away from her body while cooing:
"Watch me closely, Izu~!" just when the song started up its into and the first arrows started to appear on screen.
So he did. He watched as she put on a concentrated pout and started stepping around, dancing about on the little dance square square provided. Watching the many hits and the few misses, but most importantly, he was watching her.
There were a few things that occurred to him in that moment: For one, Toga was actually pretty cute. Somehow in his guts he had of course always known it. However, normally his brain was so occupied by the danger she exuded, that the thought that he could feel himself getting drawn to her somehow did not register.
But now that he could see it this obviously: A girl so excitable, so energetic... he couldn't help but stare a little, being drawn in by the way she danced around the platform. A few more thoughts were going through to his. A few more things that he could neither describe nor put into words, while the song was coming to its last beats. A few more steps and she was done, holding her balance on her toe tips as she waited for her score in eager anticipation.
Izuku felt the heat in his face rise out of nowhere. He could not quite place his finger onto why. Maybe the aftereffect of resting after dancing so much. The tingling in his belly told him almost immediately that he was lying to himself.
The screen flashed for a moment before displaying her score in bold letters. With a big grin on her face, she turned towards him, holding up her hands in victory. "Well, how did I do~?" She asked with cheeky confidence.
There was probably something smart to say in this situation, maybe something witty, but nothing would to his mind right now. He just felt the flush on his face rise further ,every part of his body pulling around his heart as if it was trying to try and stop it from growing three times just from looking at this girl.
Out of nowhere he suddenly felt like he was jerked back to reality harshly. Right, she was still waiting for his response, didn't she? Hastily looking at her score then back to her, he just blurted out: "Amazing!"
Probably a bit louder than necessary, but he preferred it over letting her sit in awkward silence even if he felt even more weird now.
"Well, that was fun. Come, Izuku, let's try some other games too!" Toga announced with a satisfied grin on her face. Walking over to him she expected her to just grab his arm and drag him off like had done before, but no... Holding out her hand she impatiently happened from one foot to the other.
Once more their fingers entwined, the third time now... just that it felt different to the other two times for Izuku. This time it felt warmer, more... appreciated. Sure, there was still nervousness and the fact that there was a certain discomfort in the closeness, but it felt good to walk with her hand in hand.
"How often do you come to the mall?" Izuku asked after a few moments of quietly searching the next game they could enjoy together. He didn't really know why he asked. Did he want to see her more or less? Come here more often or avoid it altogether for safety...
"Whenever i have time and money. So not that often. If people see me anywhere too regularly, it would become too much of a hassle, so I am here sporadically." She explained surprisingly freely and casually. The implications... the situation she was in; none of that was lost on him right now.
For a moment, he thought of bringing it up to her more clearly but he decided against it. He already understood; there was no point for asking for any further clarification.
"Any other places you usually go to?" He inquired instead, stopping in front of a puzzle game, looking at it with interest for a moment before moving on. He was in company. Not the time for a puzzle game.
"There is this burger restaurant somewhere on the edge of the mall... I have been there only once, but... the burgers there were so good. Really juicy too~ It was also nice and dim there, so I could stay around for a bit longer instead of just having to stop and go as fast as I could."
Izuku had known before that she was excitable, but this was just a bit different. Mostly, because what they were having right now was an actual, real conversation. Not some kind of play pretend. No mother would believe that she was his girlfriend or anybody else. Just her talking about something she liked to him.
"Haven't been there before..." He replied, a gentle smile sneaking onto his lips. "Maybe..."
That was about as far as he got with his words, with his thoughts. A loud cry disturbed the two, the sound of a tiny body dropping onto the floor. Izuku instantly started looking around. It didn't take long for him to find the source of those noises. To his left, right in the middle of a crossway a little boy had thrown himself onto the ground in frustration, his whole body quaking as he tried to keep the wailing inside, even if it seemed like it could burst out at any moment.
Without losing even a moment of thought about it, he was by the boy's side, one hand gently on his back. It was clear the toddler couldn't hold it any longer. Tears streamed down that tiny face, his mouth twitched all the way down and just before the bawling began, he started reaching to the closest thing for comfort... which in this case was, of course, Izuku.
Clinging to him like a little monkey, couldn't help but pick him up, consoling by stroking him gently over his head, rocking him gently while he tried to make him as comfortable as possible. Looking back at Toga, he found an unreadable expression on her face, her golden eyes seemingly having gone twice as wide as before, observing him and the boy close... to an uncomfortable degree. Honestly, he just hoped that he didn't just piss her off by suddenly jumping into action.
"I want my mommy!" The cry went off right next to his ear like a bomb. He knew that no matter what, that this kid demanded his full attention right now and no was not an answer anymore. An apologetic glance towards the girl he started patting the boy's back while rocking him up and down gently.
"Hey, hey... it's okay. Can you tell us where your mom might be?" Izuku asked calmly over the constant "Weh!" that was seemingly overshadowing every other sound in the arcade. Again he tried to repeat his question but he couldn't get a single bit of info out of the boy. At least until...
"I think I found something..." he felt somebody tugging at his shirt, drawing his attention away from the toddler. Once more he was looking at those wide, golden eyes, with no idea how to read what was happening behind them. But her gaze made him follow hers, down to the belt of the boy.
A small shield was attached there, a number handwritten onto it with a small message: "Hello, my name is Chonchi. I've lost my mom. Please call at this number:"
WHat a smart mother! Also probably meant, that this was probably not the first time this happened. Still, an easy solution to their problem!
"Great job, Toga!" he praised her, a wide, beaming smile on his face. "Can you call her for me, while I try to keep him calm?"
The corners of her mouth twitched lightly, not as much as he was to though. Shaking her head though, she explained: "Can't. I don't have my phone on me." Still showing that puzzling expression.
"Oh, no problem. You can use mine. It's in my left pocket." He explained turning the side towards her while she just wordlessly nodded. A little bit of eye contact, her expression changed back to that wide, toothy grin and a twinkle of mischief shone through her eyes as she reached for his phone.
The moment he felt her touch on the inside of his pocket he realized how strange what he said was. The twinkle of mischief had told him as much, honestly. Just for that moment his hero attitude wavered, giving for the part of him that was still a teenage boy that just offered a girl, he just found out was really, really cute, rummaging in his pocket for his phone... and she actually went for it.
The fact that she was taking longer than necessary just made his blood rough through his body even faster. Despite the toddler blaring and screaming at full lungs right next to his ear, his focus was entirely absorbed by the subtle touch against his thigh, the rush of his heat and the tingle that exploded from every single spot up into his belly.
While Toga successfully pulled out his phone, all he could do was stand there, mechanically rocking the boy up and down, aping the notion of trying to calm the child down. His mind, however, lingered on the feeling in his stomach. On the one hand, he definitely liked maybe this went too far... on the other hand, fireworks and volcanoes were the orchestra in his guts to the rapid drumming of his heart.
In the meantime, Toga had started fumbling with his phone. Maybe a little longer than he expected. With a concentration expression on her face she pushed on the screen as she struggled to make a call with it, it seemed.
"If you swipe to the right in the lock screen, it should give you a number pad." Izuku explained after a few more moments, earning him an atypical sweet smile. With that figured out she hammered in the number and pressed the phone against her ear, looking at him in awkward anticipation, while he tried to keep the toddler as quiet as he could.
"Yes? Hello, we have a toddler here, with your number on his belt... yes... of course... yes... yes... no, no problem... yes... yes, we can go there." So it seemed like Toga was very decent at handling the phone call, her expression imitating somebody with a lot more maturity than either of them had. Mouth pulled down and brows pulled up with a polite smile finishing the look.
If the situation would have been different he might have found that amusing. Like that he was more so occupied bouncing in place while he watched her finish the call, eager to figure out what had been said on the other side of the line.
With a little sigh, she finally put the phone down, looking right at him before explaining: "The mom is going to wait at the claw machine cause they apparently are at an easy to spot location because they are one end of the arcade hall."
She made a short pause, eye contract unbroken still as she raised the phone back up. "Do you want me to hold onto it for the time being or do you want me to stuff it back in?"
Instantly he felt blood rush into his head, like steam was going to explode from his ears. Not only because he realized how much she was clearly flirting with him, but she pretty much confirmed that she noticed how much getting the phone had gotten to him.
"I-if you... you could hold onto it... I would... I would really appreciate that." he managed to stutter awkwardly, feeling like his collar was suddenly a tad bit too tight. Somehow she seemed happy about that response. But with that out of the way he turned to leave, looking for the claw machine... maybe also just trying to change the topic.
Going through the rows of machines for a little, it seemed like Toga quickly got tired of just walking next to Izuku. Not even though that kid was still crying tears and snot into his shoulder, that would not stop her from being close to him. Even if he had no hand free, she could still hook herself under his arm, leaning onto him as much as possible.
He could feel how much she was pushing him. It was pretty clear that was getting into his comfort zone, whichever way she could think of without scaring him off or getting the child to become even louder. Honestly, he did not really really know when she would overstep his limits. Conflicting emotions... on the one hand, it was uncomfortable , on the other, incredibly exhilarating, incredibly intimate like wading together through the dark, seeing when they would finally hit a wall. At what point did she push too far? Not even himself knew.
However, true enough, the claw machines were really not hard to find. Basically just walking away from the entrance the whole time made him find a whole row of them on the wall. Now, it was just a question of either finding the mom or waiting for her right there.
"At least, he stopped crying" Toga mentioned somewhat dryly, still clinging to Izuku's arm while looking at the kid with his whole face sunk against his shoulder, small hands bunched up around the cloth of his shirt. ONly an occasional hiccup showed that the kid had not fallen asleep.
"He probably had to get all that out of his system. Now he just tired." Izuku guessed, still occasionally rocking him lightly up and down, although he had to admit his arms started to ache somewhat from carrying the toddler around. But he didn't want to risk stirring the kid up by putting him down somewhere.
"We kinda look cute this way, aren't we?" Toga asked after a few too many minutes of waiting, having changed to leaning more so against one of the plastic boxes, hands crossed behind her back while she impatiently shifted her weight around heels. Clearly, that was getting boring very quickly to her.
"What do you mean?" he followed up, standing there attentively looking out for a woman that looked somehow similar to the kid in his arms, maybe somebody that looked a bit more distressed. Admittedly, he got a little bit bored, so talking with Toga was more than welcomed. Now, if only the first words coming from her mouth wouldn't immediately turn his cheeks bright red.
"Oh you know, when we were walking... me on one arm and a child in the other. Like a teenager that went too far too quickly but they stuck it out together either way." She explained herself, with her hands suddenly bashfully pressed against her cheeks, framing her face. Somehow he had the feeling that she was teasing him... and well, it was working. Then again, there was a light bit of red on her face, making him wonder if that was something she was actually fantasising about... that he did not know how to feel about.
"I-if you say so..." was the only thing he reasonably could respond to this. Well, despite everything it was still Toga. He better kept that in mind, even if that image of her was shifting even as they just stood there.
"I think I am seeing someone" she interrupted his thoughts before he could come to any kind of conclusion. Following her gaze, the woman really jumped out to him too, now that he had seen her. A rather small woman, pushing herself through the crowd, bouncing up and down as she tried to look over the shoulders of the people in front of her to orientate herself... somehow she reminded Izuku of his own mother a little bit.
As she came closer and closer, the reason for this whole mishap became quite clear, quite quickly. Pulled along by her was another child, maybe a year or two older than what he presumed was the sibling of the toddler he was holding. It did not much to imagine the situation of one kid going one way and the other staying behind or walking the other way... probably the nightmare of any parent, but unfortunately somewhat unavoidable at times.
The moment she spotted the teens she hurried over to them, while they were just waving and (at least Toga) jumping up and down to make sure she could not miss them. The exchange afterwards was quick and painless. The mother thanked them and apologized for bothering them by not looking after her child properly, before they slowly pried the now sleeping kid off of Izuku's shoulder before they could part ways.
"Well, that was something..." Toga noted, the moment the little family was out of earshot, her expression having gone from polite girl to something... a bit more annoyed. It kinda just occurred to Izuku, that she was cooperative to the whole affair way more because of him, than because of her own drive. Something that he was not sure how to feel about, but something deep down basically seemed to either gloss over the fact or forgave her immediately.
"Yup... definitely... So what now?" he asked, rolling his aching shoulder a little bit. Not a good day for his favorite pair of joints.
"We are already here, aren't we?" She noted, the happy energy from before quickly returning to her as she nodded over her shoulder towards the claw machines. "You could make this a proper date and get me something, Izu~"
And there she went and said out loud, what was quietly the undercurrent of this whole thing. Yep, this was a date alright. It might have started out somewhat weirdly but it was a date without doubt. Even if it left him suddenly holding his breath as if she was going to say "Just kidding" at any moment now.
But the "just kidding" didn't come. So he was left there, standing in the realization that this was his first proper date with any girl as he turned towards the many, many claw machines behind them. Rows of toys and plushes lining the area.
"Anything in particular you want?" he resolved himself to ask, feeling tingly all over as he realized he basically just admitted to date now fully, without any wiggle room for just making it "an accidental meeting" or anything of sorts. No, this was implicitly and explicitly a date.
"Hmmm..." she hummed looking through the row of boxes before pointing. "How about that one?" She asked, with a grin, pointing towards a plush of an orange cat with golden eyes. Honestly, he wondered why that didn't jump out to him immediately as well.
"... al-alright then." he stepped closer to the machine, letting the card charge the points. "Wish me luck... i guess?" Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew he was starting to behave weirdly. On the other hand. He really had not much control over it. There was so much to process at once the moment, she got a bit more explicit. Of course, he should not be surprised given their other interactions, but... he was agreeing to it right now. That was the part that really threw him for a loop.
With a lot of jingles, the machine came to life, the claw started to move... With a deep breath, Izuku started to concentrate, carefully pressing the buttons while he tried to commit himself to the task at hand. Maybe that could banish the whirlwind going through his head at that moment. At least momentarily...
Maybe it was better that he did. After all, claw machines were... something. Incredibly difficult, unpredictable, sometimes moving in ways that you would not expect and other descriptors of that likeness; with a big frown on his face he had made several attempts to get that golden eyed cat, while Toga was casually coming closer and closer, softly cheering him on from the side.
"Almost got it~! Next time you get it for sure." She purred into his ear until finally, with his fingers starting to feeling kinda tingly, he started to make promises to her encouragement. The claw finally had hooked itself into one of the paws, slowly dragging it upwards, slowly carefully. With shaky motions it was slowly hovering itself towards the reward chute.
Thunk, click, clack... at this point, Izuku already had started to relax. The cat dropped down, the sensor opened the chute and there it was! This had been way more stressful than he had expected from such a silly little machine. Who made them this difficult? This was stupid!
"You did it! You did it!" he heard from the side as he felt a pair of arms wrapping tight around his chest, pulling him close, a warm embrace mixed with the sudden up and down as Toga was bouncing in place. And there it rushed all back into him.
There was only so much distraction could do to let you ignore the fact that your heart was beating up your throat, the fact that all the time a cold sweat was trying to contain the heat that was rushing through your entire body and the butterflies that were flying around your belly in a rapid frenzy. Honestly, he did not even mind it that much. There was a dopey smile on his face as he bounced a little bit with her, just as there was a healthy sum of fear of the feelings that were boiling up in him.
With shaky hands, he reached into the machine and carefully pulled out the stuffed toy like it was a prized treasure. It was really just a simple thing, but it was something he had seen in movies, something he had glanced at when passing the TV, or what he read in mangas while he was trying to act like romance was not that interesting to him, when he was in that age... and now he was doing that himself.
Maybe he was overthinking this, of course, but honestly, he could not stop thinking about these things when he turned towards the blond haired girl that had started conjuring all this up for him.
"F-for you..." he said with the biggest case of "speaking before thinking" as he held the orange cat out for her.
Toga just replied with a big grin on her face, her eyes softening from their usual expression to a gentle expression he had not really seen on her before. Gently she hugged it, pressing it against her cheek and let the softness grace her skin. For a moment, she was focused on that feeling before she looked back to Izuku, stepping closer.
"Thank you, Izu~" she purred into his ear as she leaned so close her mouth was right next to his ear, before turning slightly to press a kiss onto his cheek.
He thought he knew what fires could rage in his body. He thought he knew how his blood could boil. He thought he knew hard everything in the body could squeeze together... but nothing quite could have prepared him for the onstorm of what just happened. He went stiff in a second, every muscle tensed, color shot up into his head so fast he had no idea that was even physically possible while his heart felt like it was leaping out of his chest, green sparks suddenly flying for a split second... Any more and he probably would have jumped through the roof of the building, catapulted by the sudden explosion going off in his heart.
"S-so what e-else would you want to do?" For the third time, he tried the tactic of distracting himself, but... already he could tell he was not exactly working. His hand traced his cheek again and again, making his whole body shiver at that memory that was burning itself into his brain permanently.
"Mmmh, don't know. Let's look around!" The simplest answer from her. Fingers locked together and time became a whirl. Flashing colors, moving pieces and so many more things that made his head spin. Toga did know how to press his buttons, to keep him on edge with the way she was keeping to him, and keeping him paying attention to her, no matter how much he shied away from it at first.
When the time came for it to stop, he already felt lightheaded. In a great many ways, he was exhausted, but at the same time brimming with energy. But the clock didn't lie... finishing the last game, he confirmed that the numbers on the screen of his phone were indeed showing the correct time.
"I think I need to go..." he announced in a weird voice. Suddenly he felt... deflated. Reality slowly had found its way back into his head. There was a world outside of these games and a place where the fact that he was standing peacefully next to Toga would have raised more than a few eyebrows. A world, where this cute girl next to him was a coldblooded killer. And it was not like he did not know that. It just came back to him at this very inopportune time.
"Awww, well, I should probably go too. The others probably already wondered what I am up to." And it sounded so normal, if it wasn't for the fact, that the 'others' were the most dangerous group of terrorists and villains in the country. So what to do from there? Should he do something, probably, but... there was a certain weight on his heart about that.
"So... yeah..." What should he say to her now? Goodbye? See you around? Until next time? All of these seemed terribly morbid all of the sudden. Maybe he should do that anyways, just to not ruin the mood completely? The fact that there was a switch inside of him, that flicked so quickly from euphoria to anxiety somewhat worried him.
"I had a lot of fun today, Izu~" she started out, gently drawing close to him, arms stretched out already to him. "Maybe one day, we will be able to repeat it."
With that she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug, something she hesitantly reciprocated. This was, not that bad really. It just felt all kinds of weird right now. Although he had to admit, the cat plush that was currently pressing into the small of his back, was so much more preferable to the knives, to the toy gun... It was much softer. And somehow his mind latched onto that a little.
"Yeah maybe." he answered with his voice feeling weirdly heavy. Toga grinned her typical grin, from one ear to the other with mischief written all over her face as they parted, giving him a small wave. And as soon as he blinked... she was gone. He could not quite tell how she did it, but she had stepped into the crowd and disappeared completely.
Somehow the room, despite all the people he was surrounded by, suddenly felt strangely lonely. Once again he looked down at the clock on his phone... yeah it was time. Maybe, when he was back with his friends, this little pit in his heart would disappear... And with that he navigated back to their meeting point.
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